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Shadowsun Crusade
The Shadowsun Crusade is the name of a coalition of disparate Chaos Space Marine warbands and Traitor Astra Militarum Regiments. While the many separate factions wear different uniforms and wield different weaponry they all pay respect to, or fear Lord Shadowsun, a mighty Chaos Sorcerer clad in terminator armour made of living flesh. Before the Crusade The origins of the Shadowsun Crusade begins with the man formerly known as Ezra Shadowsun of Hive Vindiicta Triari. The Son of a smelter and a Medicae, Ezra found his days toiling in the sweltering forges hollow and futile despite his high standing at the company. By day he worked himself to the bone and in the small hours of the night he was part of a secretive priesthood known as The Immortal Coterie. This Order Openly Worshipped the emperor as a Judge of Life and Death, emphasising the celebration of life in preparation for an afterlife called "The Eternity Garden". Ezra's initiation into the order wan't just a hobby for Sunday's but a pivotal pillar of his life. As his devotion to the order grew his disdain for his peers grew in kind. One fateful day, A co-worker he'd worked with since his teens was executed by an inquisitor for an off colour joke deemed "Heretical". Ezra, like the other workers; was quiet and began to nurture a grudge against the Imperium he'd previously worshipped with unflinching loyalty. Distraught and at his wits end, he flew into the arms of The Immortal Coterie who revealed to him their true intentions. Over the festive period of Terra Primus the Coterie began a lengthly and terrible ritual. For days all the members of the order chanted in a guttural language none of them had any prior knowledge of. The congregation's combined chanting reverberated harshly off the inner sanctums walls for untold hours. On the surface as partygoers were drinking, dancing and celebrating the glorious legacy of the High Lords of Terra, the sky suddenly turned an ominous shade of purple. Weird spirals of blue and yellow flickered in the sky. The enraptured populous's awe turned to horror as lightning bolts struck indiscriminately, shattering buildings and turning unfortunate civilians to pulp in an instant. The foul storm clouds converged on the centre of the hive wreaking havoc wherever they went. Inside the antechamber a sickly green portal opened up in the chest of the Coterie's Grand Master. From it, pale wisps flowed out and into the other initiates. Unable to withstand the warpstuff, they simply exploded. The Wisps didn't stop their bloody path and continued to fly in pursuit of a worthy host. Unable to move from his entranced state, Ezra was possessed by the entire throng of warp things and felt something stir in him. His limbs grew heavy and leaden and he could swear his robe was shrinking. The room about him suddenly looked small from his new height. When the tingling sensation subsided he reached out to pull himself up by the nearest object. To his surprise he felt a long rod-like object in his grip. Now standing, he saw what the ritual had granted him; a Force Stave and Combi-bolter, made of bone and adorned with eyes and human teeth. Shambling about in his new form, Ezra stepped out into the open air. Recognising the graveyard he was in, he knew what he had to do. Upon finding the tombstone of his dead friend and six deceased Coterie members he uttered a spell in the same guttural tongue from the ritual. The Earth shook as seven Power-Armoured forms rose from the dirt carrying rotten Bolters and large Warknives. A century later, Lord Shadowsun Marches at the head of an improbable and eclectic group of chaos legionaries and traitors in the search for a blessed planet to corrupt in the name of Chaos Undivided. Battlefield Tactics The varied makeup of the Shadowsun Crusaders makes their tactics and movements erratic and somewhat unpredictable. For general engagements a hard core group of Chaos Space Marines, favouring mid-to-close range weaponry, advance under a barrage of lasfire and artillery provided by Traitor Guard Regiments. Their preference is to hammer the enemy with firepower using kill zones and artillery to command dead ground. Melee is ideally handled by two dedicated assault units - one, a unit of Chosen led by a Chaos Lord - and an unorthodox cavalry unit consisting of Rough Riders and Nurgle Bikers. Warband Fleet The Shadowsun Crusade currently operates from the Space Hulk Deaths Head orbiting the void that used to be Cadia. Unusually for most Hulks is that it's amalgamated engine is maintained by the corpses of former crew members, resurrected by foul Nurglish Sorcery. The Shadowsun Crusaders have used the wide frontage of the Indominus Crusade to pick on the less defended worlds and have earned a reputation for attacking munitions trains and fleets carrying cargo of gene-seed and vital war materials. Convoys carrying water supplies and filtration plants are a favourite target because even the mightiest hive city is one tainted water plant away from collapse. Would-be plague magicians taint the water with all kinds of dirty and rusty objects, alarmingly a few of them have developed the means to create actual diseases and poisons and it is these elements that spread a wide variety of diseases amongst the populace. Notable Characters The Shadowsun Crusade is led my many sub-leaders in order to better co-ordinate it's military efforts. Below are the various leaders of the different factions: Kain The Everlasting is an old, old warrior. He still remembers fighting the insidious tendrils of Hive Fleet Leviathan back when he was an Ultramarines Commander of the 2nd company. In the wake of the imperiums war against the tyrannic threat, Kain found that his beloved inquisition were far more monstrous than any Hive Tyrant or Genestealer. He was one of the many marines privy to the execution of many guardsman regiments that had “seen too much” for the inquisitions liking. He never forgave the inquisitor responsible for that order and so, with the assistance of an equally furious captain Lucian Hammerhand he led an impromptu strike against the inquisitor at the head of a mob of outraged civilians. Though dozens of imperials were mowed down or beaten to death in the furious battle that followed, Kain found his target blasting away at his hated foe with his bolt pistol. To this day Kain remembers the look of shock, confusion and contempt on the Inquisitors face as he severed his head from his body. In the Decades since Kain, along with Lucian served as part of the Warband known as the Tyrants Court in relentless hit and run attacks on imperial munitions trains and vital garrisons. Now he leads his own splinter group, The Court Eternal in vicious actions for the enigmatic Lord Shadowsun. Lucian the Undying-In a former life Lucian was a Space Marine captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company. He was tasked with the purging of a demon world in assisting the Cadian forces already assigned to the task. The mission was fraught with danger as the very planet created natural weapons from the earth itself. The Noise marines manning the unnatural defences blunted the imperial assault and pinned the survivors in a shelled out ruin. It was at this moment that Lucian realised that all comm links to the imperial forces had been terminated. The Imperium had left him for dead. Surrounded by his dead comrades he cursed the names of the Emperor and Guiliman. Nearby a slain radian officer rose from the ashes, it’s eyes glowing with an unnatural white light. “You have fought bravely” it said in many voices at once “My master is in need of champions like yourself, Slaneesh sends his regards”. Lucian didn’t take much persuasion to change allegiance. Now he leads a squad of Chaos Chosen, Excelling in brutal shock assaults in the name of Slaneesh and Lord Shadowsun. Neville Plagueborn-Neville Plagueborn is the self-appointed Lord Commissar of the Shadowsun Crusade and overall Commander of it's mortal forces. He is almost more of a force of will than a human being. He is often found yelling orders for his men to fight harder and train longer at any and all hours of the day. His personal regiment is known as the Old Guard notable for their parade ground attire and antique las-muskets. It is no secret that Neville has many friends amongst the ranks of the Old Guard and insists on leading the advance with his own regiment. The sad actuality is that Neville isn't actually a Lord-Commissar at all due to a particularly painful failure from his youth. As a young man he was inspired by his great-grandfather Kotor Volke, who was a feared and respected lord commissar in his time. Neville's Father ended up working as a career merchant and after many failed family ventures it was clear that the life of commerce would never sit well with him. Thus Neville applied to the Schola Progenium but failed the entrance exam by a single point. He tried to put on a brave face and pick up the merchant life where he left off but something ached within him to try again for the Commissariat. In a drunken rage he forsook the Emperor and swore in Nurgle's name that he would do his great-grandfather proud. Believing himself blessed by the father of plagues he adorned his great-grandfathers uniform and weaponry, rusted and worn from years of dust and neglect. Taking with him a hefty sum of money and a few mementos of his "past life" Neville set about convincing some of his closest friends to his new cause, omitting any overt references to chaos. The brash youths were more than happy to join him and raided the local barracks. The Barracks of Lanquis V were not stocked with current gear, forcing the new traitorous guardsmen to use long out of service muskets and frivolous parade gear. Thirty years later, they still wear the same uniforms and wield the same old muskets, believing them to be blessed by Grandfather Nurgle. Ironically the decades since his self-appointment have forged him into a capable commander but his greatest strength lies elsewhere. Neville has a natural talent for rousing the spirits of those around him. His fiery speeches inspire such emotion in those that hear them that they will wilfully march into the most ferocious of fire against the most impossible odds. Lord Shadowsun enlisted him and the Old Guard into the crusade for this reason alone and though Neville is most certainly not blessed by Nurgle, his ability to entice recruits is such that Shadowsun is happy to lie in order to keep him on board. Category:Chaos Category:Chaos Space Marines Category:Chaos Warbands